13.7.15

SLADE – Can An Injustice Be Overturned?

In May I posted on Just Backdated a picture
of me holding the Sgt Pepper-style
poster of Slade that has been produced by David Graham, an überfan of the group
who is behind the Slade In England website and FB page. I was among the crowds
of people in this pastiche of The Beatles’ most famous LP, behind early and
later photographs of Slade, alongside numerous other individuals who had played
some part in their success or had a link with them, and happy that the small
role I played in their rise to fame and fortune had been recognised. In the
meantime all four members of Slade have received copies and been photographed
with them, see above – albeit not together.

I
have now been asked by Dave to get behind an initiative to overturn the
injustice that has seen Slade grievously overlooked in terms of recognition by
the music industry. The obvious pitch would have been to get the BRITS
Nomination Committee to consider them for a Lifetime Achievement Award but this
award was abandoned in 2013 when it became clear that they were running out of
nominees. It could be argued that Slade were in good company here as both The
Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin never got one either, though to the exasperation
of many in the music industry the Spice Girls did.*

Asked
to come up with another idea I thought of the Ivor Novello Awards,
traditionally given to songwriters but also to those who have made an
outstanding contribution to British Music, so last week I wrote the following
letter to the Ivor Novello Awards Committee, via their website:

Glancing
through your archive I cannot help but feel that there has been a gross
injustice with regard to the lack of recognition afforded to songwriters Noddy
Holder and Jim Lea, and their group Slade. Very few bands in the history of
British popular music can boast a run of hits as impressive as Slade. Far and
away the most successful chart band of the early Seventies, they chalked up no
fewer than 17 consecutive Top Twenty hits, including six Number Ones, between
1971 and 1976, and 39 chart entries in all. Three of their albums also topped
the LP charts in an 18 month spell between 1972 and 1974. Their nearest rival
was the far more acclaimed Marc Bolan but the chart statistics of T. Rex pale
in comparison to those of Slade.

‘Merry Christmas Everybody’, Slade’s
rousing 1973 Christmas chart topper, has gone on to become Britain’s best loved
Christmas song. I have reason to believe that its earnings through the PRS
rival any British song ever.

I should perhaps point out that during
the seventies I was on the staff of Melody Maker and in this capacity probably wrote more about Slade than any other music
writer. They became my friends – and still are – and in 1983 I was commissioned
to write their official biography Feel The Noize, which is now out of print but is generally regarded by fans as their
‘Slade Bible’. These fans – and there are hundreds of them – remain loyal to
Slade despite the fact that it is most unlikely they will ever reform.
Nevertheless Noddy Holder has become a national treasure, Jim Lea a reclusive
but immensely talented songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Dave Hill a glam
rock icon and Don Powell a survivor in the truest sense of the word. They have
never been recognised for their contribution to British music and it is high
time they were.

Chris
Charlesworth, 8 July, 2015

I have yet to get a response from the Ivor
Novello awards people, and would urge other Slade fans to follow my example by
writing to them via their website (http://theivors.com/contact/). The more fans
get behind this initiative the more likely it is to succeed.

* Of course the reason why the Stones and Led Zep never
got this award was because they weren’t prepared to perform at the BRITS, while
the Spice Girls were. The absurdity of this was highlighted when it became
known that Paul McCartney had been offered the award that year (2000) but
couldn’t perform – thus creating a situation where it seemed that the SGs were
favoured over Macca. BRITS Chairman Paul Conroy was at pains to point out that
this did not mean that the Committee deemed the Spice Girls' contribution to
music to be of greater merit than that of the former Beatle – but eyebrows were
nevertheless raised.

2 comments:

Chris Charlesworth you are a legend, thank you for your contribution to Slade over the years, I respect you and thank you, to me Slade are THE Greatest Rock Band in the world and have been such a huge part of my life since 1971, seeing them Live here in Australia in 1973 & 1974 was just Amazing and to this day they are the Best Live Band I have ever seen (and believe me I have seen plenty of bands and most of them very disappointing), Slade should be recognised world wide as a great rock band and great song writers and great performers etc...etc...Keep On Rockin'

Cris, sure his book is a bible of the Slade, the most complete, and in a great moment of the band, when they returned to the world-wide success. The book could have an updated reprint, with solo discographies etc, also a review of photos and pictures. Feel the NOIZE from Brazil!